Top 50 player & 'best in Serie A' but is Christian Pulisic world-class? Former USMNT team-mate explains standing of AC Milan forward among global elite

The 26-year-old forward continues to catch the eye for club and country in 2024. His debut campaign at San Siro delivered a personal-best goal return of 15 efforts, with the potential there for said bar to be raised even higher during his second season in Italy.

Pulisic has registered seven goals and three assists this term, while continuing to fill skipper duties for the United States, and is considered to be in the form of his life. The question now being asked is: Does ‘Captain America’ sit among the global elite?

When that question was put to Sacha Kljestan, the former USMNT midfielder told Alexi Lalas’ ‘State of the Union’ podcast: "World class? At the moment, right now, I’d say he is world class. In general, I would say he’s a top-50 player in the world. I do think he’s the best player in Serie A right now as far as form goes – he has been on fire. Statistics will back that up, just with the way that he’s putting the ball in the back of the net and setting up team-mates. I think the challenge then is to try and lead AC Milan to a Serie A title and success in the Champions League. Those are big expectations, but that is what happens when you play for a big, historic club such as AC Milan."

Kljestan, who once played alongside Pulisic, added: "I’m just a fan of him. His first five games for the national team were about my last five games for the national team. Even at 17 years old you could realise how good he was. The biggest compliment I could give him back then is that he was so easy to play with – he understood the game at a really high level and you could just tell that he had something different to any other American player at that time."

Pulisic is up to 74 caps for his country, helping them to three CONCACAF Nations League triumphs while also gracing the 2022 World Cup. He is feeling settled at club level, after generating talk of interest from afar, and is tied to a contract through to 2027 – with that deal including a 12-month extension clause that may soon be triggered.